ring. they think they're going to drop an elbow on her. all of a sudden, you know what happens? you know why? it backfired! now everybody says that's totally offensive. i can't believe they did that. way to screw up your own guy morons! all right. that's all we got for you tonight. we'll see you tomorrow. >> eliot: good evening. i'm eliot spitzer. this is "viewpoint." president obama tells world leaders at the united nations they must join the fight against the violent extremism that claimed the lives of four americans in libya while mitt romney outlines his plans to marry free enterprise to foreign aid at the clinton global initiative. paul ryan finds an employee's union he can actually support.

starting with the president. after the death of chris stevens. the anti-muslim video that provoked the protests while defending the right to free speech. >> obama: americans have fought and died around the globe to protect the right of all people to express their views. even views we profoundly disagree with. and on this, we must agree there is no speech that justifies mindless violence. there are no words that excuse the killing of innocents. there's no video that justifies an attack on an embassy. >> eliot: the president warned iran that while it still had time to demonstrate its nuclear program was peaceful, that time was not unlimited. >> obama: make no mistake a nuclear armed iran is not a challenge that can be contained and that's why the united states will do what we must to prevent iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. >> eliot: the president also spoke out against human trafficking in a speech at the clinton global initiative. a little earlier, it was mitt

romney who basked in the former president clinton's presence before rapped sizing over plans to help developing nations with prosperity packs. >> working with the private sector, the program will identify the barriers to investment and trade and entrepreneurship and entrepreneurialism in developing nations. and in exchange for removing the barriers and opening their markets to u.s. investment and trade, developing nations will receive u.s. assistance packages. >> eliot: romney said in a typical dig against president obama he would never apologize for america as fact checkers have shown the president hasn't but never mind the facts. after leaving new york, romney joined congressman ryan in ohio for two days of campaign and according to the latest "washington post" poll, it is an uphill battle likely voters in ohio favoring president obama over romney by 52% to 44%. romney also trails in florida where likely voters prefer the president by 4 points. ohio and florida are among 8 swing states that will be seeing this obama ad, attacking romney for his derogatory comments

about americans who don't pay federal income tax. >> mitt romney dismissed 47% of americans for not pulling their weight, he attacked millions of hard-working people making $25,000, $35,000 $45,000 a year. they pay social security taxes. state taxes. local taxes, gas sales and property taxes. romney paid just 14% in taxes last year on over $13 million in income. almost all from investments. >> eliot: the romney/ryan team pay not be able to win a majority but after at itrocious call that ended the seahawks packers game, they did find an issue most americans can agree on. >> i gotta start off on something that was really troubling that occurred last night. did you guys watch that packer game last night? i mean give me a break! it is time to get the real refs. >> eliot: of course, the real refs are being locked out by the

nfl where ryan was supporting the referee's union. mitt romney was at the education nation forum where he couldn't believe that new york parents might support the teacher's union over reformers like mike bloomberg. one parent assisted a quinnipiac poll showed just that. >> they believe that actually unions are fighting for our kids and that a lot of the reform has been holding back our kids. >> i don't believe it for a minute. i know something about polls. [ laughter ] and i know you can ask questions to get any answer you want. >> eliot: poor mitt. when the question was who do you trust to protect the interest of public school children, parents of new york public school students faved the union over bloomberg by better than three to one. for successful private equity chief, mitt romney seemed to have a problem with numbers and facts. let's go to "buzzfeed" correspondent and rolling stone contributing editor michael hasting and huff post live host abby huntsman. all right. a lot of stuff going out there

in the political world. the reality is none of it is changing the landscape. first question today was foreign policy day. did president obama clear the air? he had been attacked by governor romney for a calm of days running about the response to libya. abby, do you think the president cleared the air and gave a statement that is strong enough about where we stand on the attack in libya? >> i think he did. he was tough when he needed to be tough. there was a level of respect shown by both candidates we have not seen on the campaign trail very much. but i think he weaves throughout his speech ambassador stevens' story. that was impactful for a lot of americans. he touched a lot on our first amendment rights. free speech. he was tough on tolerance and the importance of freedom. i thought that resonated with a lot of americans. it is what he needed to do. >> eliot: michael did he strike that appropriate balance about process lettizing about the first amendment the core we believe in while simultaneously saying we will be tough in

protecting those who speak out? >> i thought this was one of the best speeches the president gave. it goes in with the speech that he gave defending -- the nobel peace prize. this speech as well. when president obama speaks to the world as adults, speaks to americans, that's when he's at his best. i think did he walk that fine line of making the point he had to the muslim world. the audience here wasn't just the campaign. he's talking to all of the leaders in the room plus the muslim world while walking the fine line to make sure he doesn't give his opponents anything to hammer over the head. it was a strong speech. >> eliot: stfs a stupendous speech. the nobel speech may come back to haunt him when you look at what he said about foreign policy and the use of violence. discussion for another day. >> you mention ghandi and mandela today. different purposes. >> eliot: exactly. that speech will be critiqued years from now.

abby, let's talk about politics. mitt romney has been using foreign policy for last couple of days as a bludgeon against the president. is there a case to be made by mitt romney on that issue? >> he's been struggling on the foreign policy issue as we know which is a really tough thing for him. but i'm going to push back a little bit with him. i thought it was a great speech but can you help me understand why he did not take the time to meet with the foreign leaders. he did have the time to do tv appearances. i know i shouldn't be bringing this up but i'm having a tough time understanding this. >> eliot: there is an easy answer. appearing on tv is more important than substance. look at the three of us. your point is well taken at one level but there is a reality here. he is running a tough campaign. he has secretary of stateú clinton who was there meeting with the foreign leaders. she is his surrogate on these matters and it is an easy way to critique him but on the other hand, he has met with these leaders. he talks to them every day. the whole thing about his not meeting with netanyahu.

he speaks to him with such regularity. i understand in the middle of a campaign what he's going through. >> going back to romney. every move he makes on foreign policy will be calculated because he knows he's in a tough position. so in a speech he gave today he will be very vague. he's not going to give a lot of the specifics. his neocon policies as they say all of the people surrounding him giving him advice, he won't speak to those on a day like today, i don't think. >> the question is has romney's attacks on the national security record had an impact? the most polls i saw still show obama polling in the 60% of people who trust obama in security. i don't think what's happening in libya, though it is horrible and disturbing as it is, it is going to have that big of an impact come november. >> eliot: i could not agree more. mitt romney speaks about foreign policy. he will get thin slivers of certain groups. he may pick up a few conservative jewish voters based upon the failure of the president to meet with netanyahu. overall arc and argument for the

campaign fails. every day he doesn't speak about the economy he loses. he has a better chance there than foreign policy. osama bin laden is dead. end of argument for that. >> that's part of the reason we see such a jump for obama since the dnc because he has been winning the foreign policy debate. he has been winning on national security. lil' he's also winning on economics. >> that's what romney's biggest problem is. he's not winning on economy or national security. >> eliot: he should go on vacation. he would do better. every time he opens his mouth he goes down in the polls. ohio is the prime example. no republican can win without ohio. mitt romney down by 8 points. abby how is he going to come back? >> it is going to be very difficult. all i can say at this point he's not going to win on electability factor. he won't win on the relatability factor. >> eliot: likability, foreign policy economics. >> where he has some room to grow, i think is on substance.

he needs to win the substance debate. that will be shown in upcoming debates. >> eliot: after watching for two years, he has to win the substance debate. he has how many days left? >> he's gotta provide more of a detailed, consistent plan that people can ingrate. >> he tried that with the secret fund-raising video. he said no, i agree. as one of my colleagues, it is romney has been all attack and no substance for this race. i think in ohio, it's quite interesting. vice president biden as we reported recently is living in ohio now. and then after those polls came out, a romney advisor told "buzzfeed" that romney's internal polling they claim is within the margin of error so they're disputing that it's true. >> eliot: took a poll of two people to the margin of error is 50%. they're nowhere close in ohio. >> the polls will close. it is the nature of how elections work. >> eliot: i'm not so sure. seriously in ohio, the manufacturing base is beginning to come back. the economy is coming back and there's one overarching reason

for that, the auto bailout. that issue in what we used to refer to as the rust belt has been harmful to romney. mitt romney's handling of that was fundamentally wrong. >> you look at his resume. i talked to -- everything i want he was a businessman, he was a governor. he seems like he would be the best person that could go against obama right now but i don't know what he's going to do. >> eliot: his campaign has turned himself into somebody who is invacuous. he gave those things up five years ago. put that editorial aside. let's go to the senate campaigns. where the battleground is. a few months ago people thought the republicans would take the senate. abby, do you think that's likely at this point? >> i don't know anymore. it was a sure thing. but the way it's looking now, you have to look at the way local races follow a national race. and i think they're following in the footsteps. you're seeing what's happen inning virginia and massachusetts.

i'm not optimistic about akin. has that not changed the entire dynamic? >> now that it looks like jim demint is going to start giving money to his campaign, even though the rnc and every other republican is trying to throw under the bus it does change the dynamic. >> eliot: today was the last day when todd akin could get out of the race permitting the republican party to put ashcroft in. he probably would have won the seat. his name was being bandied about. now with todd akin -- >> olympia snowe who is no longer there. the problem with the akin situation, especially with demint considering giving him money is it shows that part of the republican party today is going for audiology over character. and there's a big portion of the party that doesn't agree with that. we've seen this divide but it's really hurting these senate races because they're in this thought. >> eliot: can i try to -- not amend it, it is going for ideology but a right wing far

ideology that is not appealing to the centrist voters the republican party needs to get. former senior elected official who believed that until a few months ago, the republicans would take the senate. he's saying they will end up at most at 47. they'll hold what they've got but not make any progress. >> it is this level of intolerance. when my dad was running for president, i ran across so many voters who said look, he served obama as ambassador of china. >> eliot: they would not vote for him. >> that's the problem with the republican party. there is this level of intolerance. it is black and white. you're either in or you're out. that's what we're seeing with people like todd akin. >> eliot: everybody has been commenting on the polarization of our politics until ten years ago the fact that your dad, a former republican governor would could serve a democratic president would have been viewed as a good thing about the ability to reach across the aisle and work cooperatively. >> there has been a purge of moderates in the republican party. that's the way i look at it over the last ten years. >> they're the silent majority. >> eliot: quickly if this

turns out the way we're projecting, a couple of weeks to go obviously with the republicans only getting 47 senate seats does, the leadership say you know what? it is about time to cut back to the middle. this is not the way we finish. >> laura laura ingraham says they're going to have to shut down. >> when does the fund-raising dry up? when do big donors say -- why do we write another check? >> eliot: we're seeing senate candidates who are in swing states abandoning mitt romney. that's a sure sign your own party is saying we're giving up the ship. current tv contributor "buzzfeed" correspondent and rolling stone contributing editor michael hastings and huff post live post abby huntsman. thank you for your time. it is national voter registration day but maybe not everyone is celebrating. more "viewpoint" coming up. (vo) this program is presented by american express. welcome to the possibilities of membership. welcome in. american express.

our conversation is with you the viewer because we're independent. >>here's how you can connect with "viewpoint with eliot spitzer." >>questions, of course, need to be answered. >>we will not settle for the easy answers. >> eliot: military experts have identified a major threat to national security and we now have a photo of this menace. that's right. candy. which brings us to our number of the day. 400 billion. that's how many extra calories children consume every year from junk food sold out of school vending machines. it is the same as eating two billion candy bars according to an advocacy group of retired military officers. as a result, one in four young adults are too fat to join the armed services and we're running low on the lean, mean fighting machines we need to protect us from innovating forces. granted, we can't stop kidding from eating junk food from time to time but why not at least try

to keep it. >> out of their hands when they're in school. our children could cut out 400 billion empty calories next year and help preserve freedom around the world if schools just took junk food out of their vending machines. >> eliot: one citizen, one vote is the most basic tenet of democracy. yet even that has come under attack this election season as the republicans have used the fear of fictional voter fraud to attempt to disenfranchise huge blocks of the population. with that backdrop, voter registration draws are now more important than ever. and today marked the first ever national voter registration day. events were held throughout the country led by various

volunteers organizations and politicians. and even celebrities and musicians got in on the action. joining us now is representative sheila jackson lee democrat from texas and a member of the congressional black caucus who led a huge and historic voting drive in houston today. congresswoman, thank you so much for joining us tonight. >> thank you it's great to be with you. it is great to be a supporter of everyone's right to vote. >> eliot: that is something that we believe in, i was led to believe. i had thought that was part of the fabric of our society. until this past year when all of these voter i.d. laws started floating around. but before we get to that, tell us about today in houston. why today, how successful was it and the energy you felt out there in this effort. >> it was exciting. we just left a group of enthusiastic ladies who were out on the street corners until the last hours to make sure drivers knew that they could come and vote. you know we're a state that suffered 300,000 that were burned from the voting rolls -- purged from the voting rolls

between 2008 and 2010. we're now being threatened with more burning from the secretary of state and the republican state government. we said everyone they purge we're going to register to vote. just a few weeks ago we had letters. citizens receiving a letter saying we think you're dead. i couldn't stand by and i'm delighted to have joined the congressional black caucus to be one of ten states under our jurisdiction, two cities in the state -- two cities in the state of texas. houston had a great great press conference going forward. and i just want to show you that business sign that we had up and we had over 50 people that were at the press conference telling people to come out. we did eight sites and we went around to most of those sites allowing people to come, free parking. whole idea is to stand up and refute and rebut that everyone wants to fraudulently vote. that voting is illegitimate as opposed to legitimate and so what we said, purge one register one. and we said we're going to legitimize and make legal the

process of voting not with intimidation but with a welcome mat. we're excited about it. you know what else we added eliot, a young people component. we had students from our community colleges like lone star texas southern university and many, many different ethnic and religious groups came out and said we believe in the american way. that's the right to vote. >> eliot: you know, you just say it so well there is such a marked contrast between those on the other side who are trying to intimidate and keep people from voting. they could be going out there to say we encourage you to vote. make sure you've done it right. they're sending out the letters. the letters they sent out saying we think you're dead. did it say because we think you're dead, you don't have to pay taxes? >> interesting. those letters came from the tax assessor office but unfortunately, they did not say you don't have to pay taxes. but i can tell you constituents across the city and across the county were outraged. we like life. we know when our time is up. it's up.

but we don't like anyone to prematurely, as mark twain said, i think the representations of my dead are greatly exaggerated. voters were outraged. they rushed to file the form. the question is if you're elderly, disabled, sometimes mail sits on your table for a long time and you wouldn't know to fill it out. we tried to encourage people to fill it out but we said we've gotta put our gloves on, register voters in texas, for example, up until october 9th. >> eliot: so well said. the texas voter i.d. statue was struck down as being unconstitutional. it was deemed unconstitutional for all of the reasons you just articulated. the big lie that undergurds the effort from the republicans on the other side is the effort to pretend that there's a voter fraud crisis out there. they can't show any evidence to substantiate that it is simply a big, fat fraudulent lie that is infecting our politics. i hope people appreciate that fact. >> it really is. just in the last 24 hours

south carolina received a decision on their voter i.d. law. wisconsin, another state notorious with the so-called there's a lot of fraud going on. my state of texas as well. and in addition to pennsylvania that is so sad that senior citizens in pennsylvania are being blocked from being able to vote. millions of people will be able to be blocked. it is a question of whether or not the republicans believe in one vote, one person. after we overcame the concept that only landed farmers could vote or only males could vote. we finally got the right for women to vote. we finally cleared the way for minorities to vote in the deep south in particular, african-americans. i can assure you that america has not been known for fraudulent elections. yes, we must protect the integrity of the election but i will tell you there are many ways in this sophisticated technology that we can do so and the folks that pass the legislation couldn't document any massive fraud. i frankly believe this is an

inhibitor for new voters, young voters even returning soldiers who have come back from iraq and afghanistan, maybe jeopardized from the right to vote. let me tell you one thing. in the texas voter i.d., they were not able to use federal i.d. documents. a veteran told me that because his i.d. did not have a date on it under the texas law, he could not use his permanent federal veterans i.d. card. is that absurd? an outrage as one could ever believe. >> exactly right. in the pennsylvania litigation, which is still pending the court and the state of pennsylvania acknowledged it could not point to one single case of voter impersonation fraud which, of course, was the underlying predicate to their entire statute. let me ask you what you're saying and our generic feeling about the obligation to permit people to vote, to get them to vote, moderate republicans coming back into the fold who are saying you know what? we have to push back against the

republican fringe and make voting something we believe in. we'll work with you on the voter registration effort and pushing back against bad voter i.d. bills. >> i will tell you the door is open. that's the one myth i want to dispense with. this was a nonpartisan one vote, one person effort. it is well-known that it was certainly a cause that was promoted by many who have the same thinking that many of us have in progressive and some democratic movement. we know president obama and mrs. obama were out encouraging people to register to vote, particularly young people. i had grover quinn houston texas, tweeting about voting. there were other celebrities. the door was not closed to a moderate perspective, america is for the 100%, not the 47% not the 53%, but the 100%. i welcome moderate republicans but you know what, eliot i'm concerned frankly about the two party system and the republican party. i can't find moderates who are logical to stand up.

those who were, olympia snowe has said thank you for helping allowing me to serve america. she was a great public servant. she said thank you and she's gone back to her great state. that's a sad case. i'm hoping we will have an open door of moderate republicans working for the greater common good for all of america. >> eliot: i hear that hope and i think it will inevitably happen because the results of this november will be a lesson for centrist republicans that buy kowtowing to the fringe, they all lose. i think they'll inevitably come back to the middle. let me say this to folks watching tonight. if you're unsure of your registration status and want to make sure you're able to vote come this november, visit nationalregistrationday.org. thank you, sheila jackson lee. >> it was good to be with you. let me thank all of the sites that participated here in houston, all of the churches and community centers and courthouses that opened their doors as well across the nation. thank you, eliot for having me. >> eliot: thank you. coming up, barack obama's

favorite impression of barack obama. viewfinder coming up next. lysol.com/missionforhealth.

>> eliot: coming up, last night saw one of the worst calls in nfl history and that's after a week of some pretty close runners up. but first, the eye candy in the white house madonna's bizarre endorsement and a slow news day at fox and friends. when it doesn't fit anywhere else, we put it in the viewfinder. >> slow news day. not every day can be exciting and packed with important interesting news. and there are many, many, many 24 hour a day news outlets so occasionally, you'll have a slow news day. >> i believe if you see a peacock, he's on his own. no one owns him. he chose to fly there. he's got no owner. >> peacocks don't fly. >> why do they have wings then? >> i think they fly short distances. >> president obama he talked to you recently. he told you that you did the best impression of him of anybody. >> he did.

that was crazy. you know, michelle likes the show. michelle's a fan. she likes it. you know it's on. >> he's funnier. i'm funnier. you know. we understand that. >> you get the impression she really is the most powerful person in the world. she's running him and he's running -- >> she's got the remote. >> i'm supposed to be eye candy here for you guys. >> [ bleep ] president obama okay? [ cheering ] we have a black muslim in the white house. >> we were told by the mainstream media at large that governor romney was having major campaign issues and they were rooted to the middle class and how he couldn't relate to them and so on and so forth. >> i watched his interview on "60 minutes." i don't think he helped soften his image any. >> you would move some government programs to the states. what would they be? >> well, for instance, medicaid

is a program that's designed to help the poor. likewise, we have housing vouchers and food stamps and these help the poor. i would take the dollars for those programs, send them back to the states and say to the poor that they should sit in their apartment and die. [ laughter ] >> laughter. >> huge peacocks go high up into the air and fly. >> not that high. >> the worst thing about them is -- >> isn't it exhausting, stewart. it has a big body and the wings don't seem that efficient. >> slow news day. >> eliot: almost beginning to feel sorry for mitt romney. but not really. we all saw it. we're all talking about it. one of the worst calls in nfl history. the referee union lockout coming up. there are ten angry ones taking action. trickle down does not work. in romney's world, cars get the elevator and the workers get the

the powerful may steal an election, but they can't steal democracy.

admitted that that look, we were able to keep a lot of the folks because of the stimulus. again, do you great work, judd. thank you. all of your colleagues at think progress. we'll see you again next

>> eliot: the nfl is the most popular sports league in the nation and the average franchise is worth over a billion dollars. the biggest stage for the nfl on a weekly basis is monday night football. but the end of last night's game became a combination of farce and tragedy. earlier this summer, nfl owners locked out the referees and hired replacement officials in their stay. so far, the reviews have not been good. and that's a polite understatement. missed calls game interruptions and an overall lack of control has caused an outcry from fans as well as players and coaches. all of this culminating in monday night's seahawks, packers

game with no time left, seattle quarterback russell wilson heaves the ball into the end zone where it was intercepted by green bay safety jennings. two replacement officials on the scene apparently blind, deaf and dumb gave two conflicting calls one signaling interception, the other touchdown. in the end the lead replacement official ruled it a touchdown and even after review, the call stood. giving seattle a 2-point win. tv commentators and fans around the world were shocked! but today, the nfl stood by the call saying in a statement and i quote "the nfl officiating departmentry viewed the video today and supports the decision not to overturn the on-field ruling following the instant replay review. the result of the game is final." this is perhaps the most abhorrent ruling since bush v. gore. let's bring in dave zirin. thank you for your time tonight. dave, you were just about bouncing off walls bouncing through tv screens all day.

give me your take on what happened and why. >> it was about as agonizing as passing a kidney stone and slightly less fun to actually sit through the end of that broadcast last night. it was so painful! it was a living, breathing explanation for why skilled union labor matters in the united states! you had unskilled untrained replacement/scab referees and the moment was far too big for them to put it mildly. they couldn't punch their way -- they absolutely cracked under the pressure and the result of which you saw on the field. an absolute embarrassment and a farce. something i believe woody allen would have called a travesty of a mockery of a travesty of a sham. >> eliot: basically like american politics. we'll put that aside for a moment. what i saw and i'm the untrained observer when it comes to the intricacies of football rules. i saw pass interference.

one guy catch the ball. they missed the interference. they gave possession to the wrong guy. this was not hard to see if you had two eyes open. so i mean i just don't get how a normal person standing right there could miss this. >> as herm edwards of espn said, four drunk guys in a bar could have called this correctly. it was an absolute embarrassment. if the players were officiating themselves, they would have called this correctly. and this is the problem! you have a $9 billion a year business in the national football league that's unwilling to pay $60,000 per team per week to ensure the integrity of their product. you know what it's like? it's like if coca-cola said you know what, our brand is so awesome, we're going to start selling soda without carbonation >> eliot: another metaphor, the republicans saying we don't want the s.e.c. to police the capital markets so there are people who don't believe in rules. we'll put that one aside for the moment. let me ask you this. au pair littles are

everywhere -- parallels are everywhere though. >> eliot: when you see the labor dispute on-going, what is going on here? and what interests me is where are the players in all of this? the players not only have an interest in getting the officiating right. they've had their series of bats with the owners. why aren't they doing more to help the officials? >> serious issues of health and safety there. first, the barometers of what's going on in terms of the lockout. what people need to understand is that there have been four sports lockouts in the last year. two in the nfl the players and refs, the naacp and now the national hockey league as well. in each of these disputes, ownership has been represented by the same law firm and the same negotiating team. this is about lockout as a strategy and tactic for labor management negotiations. what used to be the third rail of collective bargaining has now become the de facto move by owners and professional sports using the same centurians to

push through that kind of an agenda. it's the worst kind of arrogance and it's really biting them in the behind in this particular case. that's the only reason why it's happening. it is about ideology, not about economy. it is such little money. >> eliot: this may be worse. at least when we have the owners and players battling each other. you have two reasonably successful pools of individuals. players in the nfl. they get paid well. yet here you're dealing with the refs. the refs are sort of the smallest party in the middle and the two big -- they're using them as a fulcrum. they're being squeezed. so are there any equities, any issues to cut against the equities of the refs? is this a big bad ownership block stepping on the referees? >> it is shooting a cricket with a rocket propelled grenade. there is no reason monetarily for the owners to be taking a hard stance except for the fact that they are so arrogant and so

isolated they think they should be able to get what they want. referees have always had a retirement pension. their contract end and owners just looked at them and said we don't think you should have a pension anymore. they said why not? the league has never done better. the revenues are through the roof. and they just said yeah, you just got locked out. that's the extent of the negotiations. >> eliot: what i said, goodell, the nfl commissioner, there is a fair debate whether he is the voice for the owners or an independent decision maker, he said look, only 10% of the american public has a pension of this sort. a defined pension of the sort that you are talking about so therefore we're taking it away from you. in a way this is emblematic of everything going on in our economy. >> absolutely. this is -- it is like mitt romney saying well, if you have a problem with your health, you can always go to the e.r. or even better, let's talk about our friend, governor scott walker of wisconsin. someone who i'll put my cards on the table i believe is a fungus on the body politic of this country. he had the nerve to put out a tweet last night saying that he

wants the union officials back. why did scott walker say that? he's a green bay packer fan yet here is scott walker who has made perfectly clear he does not want skilled trained teachers in the classrooms of wisconsin or skilled trained firefighters putting out fires and yet he's aghast that we don't have skilled, trained officials on the fields of the national football league. >> eliot: dave, i gotta say it is always a joy to talk to you. you're always as modulated and quiet, your demeanor. you're ready to bounce off the the walls. you're absolutely right. it was an absolutely horrific thing to watch. as a fan as you say, this is emblematic of what's going on in our politics. the referees caught in the middle. subject to the whims of enormously powerful and wealthy owners of teams. sports editor for the nation, host of edge of sports radio the always amusing dave zirin. thanks for your time tonight. >> thank you eliot. >> eliot: the granddaughter of

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>> eliot: mitt romney, the incredible shrinking candidate. that's coming up on my view. first, let's check in with jennifer granholm "the war room." what have you got for us tonight, governor? >> jennifer: on the heels of the president's address to the united nations, we're going to put foreign policy in the context of course the upcoming election. we'll talk iran and the new dynamics of the middle east with p.j. crowley former assistant secretary of state. and then we're only a little over a week before the first presidential debate so tonight in "the war room," we're going to do some debate prep with republican strategist mark mckinnon and democratic campaign veteran fowler. it will be a great hour for the political junkies out there right here in "the war room." you gotta tune in. >> eliot: we'll be watching. more "viewpoint" coming right up. online forum with a direct line to eliot spitzer.

>>join the debate now. v